Return to Home 
Research Center Directory 
 



 

 

 

Kake

 

Kake is located on the northwest coast of Kupreanof Island along Keku Strait, 38 air miles northwest of Petersburg, and 95 air miles south of Juneau. It lies at approximately 56° 58' N Latitude, 133° 56' W Longitude (Sec. 34, T056S, R072E, Copper River Meridian). The community is located in the Petersburg Recording District. The area encompasses 8 sq. miles of land and 6 sq. miles of water.

The Kake tribe of the Tlingits were the most feared by white settlers in the 18th and 19th centuries. They frightened Captain Vancouver during his voyages and sometimes "terrorized" trappers. In 1869, the Kakes killed two Sitka traders in revenge for the shooting of a Native by a Sitka sentry. This act began the so-called "Kake War." During successive reprisals by the Navy vessel U.S.S. Saginaw, three Kake villages were destroyed. The Kakes did not rebuild for many years, but finally settled around 1890 at their present site. In 1891, a government school and store were built. A Society of Friends mission also was established. A post office was established in 1904. In 1912 the first cannery was built near Kake, and was purchased by the village in the late 1940s. In the late 1940s timber harvesting and processing began at a local sawmill.

 

 



 


©Copyright 2014 Alaska Trails to the Past All Rights Reserved
For more information contact the Webmistress